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Next Big Thing – moving touchscreens

Vibrating haptic feedback looks set to be a thing of the past, thanks to some fancy moveable screen tech from the land of the rising sun

26 March 2012/15:12BST

I like my screens nice and stable, thank you very much

There's no shoddy workmanship here – these screens are meant to move. NEC and the Tokyo Institute of Technology have created a display which is anchored with adjustable wires at each of its four corners, resulting in a screen which can jerk and move in relation to what's on it.

Come again?

Normal haptic vibration lets you know you've hit an onscreen object, but touching something alone doesn't tell you exactly where it is. If the screen itself moves then you have a much more immersive experience. Imagine feeling the heft of a riled up bird flying across the screen, or having the screen move to represent directions in a navigation app. Fancy stuff eh?

Will this be out in my lifetime?

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Possibly, depending on how old you are. The tech itself works, but looks quite clunky at the moment. There's also stiff competition from Senseg's Feel technology or Apple's own virtual button tech which could find its way into the iPhone 5 – so who know which next-gen screen tech will come out on top? In the meantime, check out the tech in action below: